Business Analysis 1 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: PROSPECTS FOR
NEW BUSINESS
Manavendra Pratap Singh, University of Delhi
Mehak Jain, University of Delhi
Nadia Samad, University of Delhi
Narayan Sharma, University of Delhie
Shreya Katiyar, University of Delhi
ABSTRACT
With the rampant upscaling of technology and the entire world
becoming a digital
global village, marketers and entrepreneurs have been making
consistent efforts to be at
par with the rapid advancements. Nowadays, the base of pure-brick
business models is
flickering in the light of the evolution of social media marketing
as there is a dire need to
have marketing strategies that not only ensure social media
presence but also,
engagement of the businesses on the digital platforms. Social media
marketing (SMM) is
particularly advantageous for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) due to its
variability and affordability. The present paper deals with
analyzing the prospects of
social media marketing in the context of SMEs. It explores the
relationship behind the
various variables of brand building and social media marketing that
ultimately result in
sales generation by carrying out empirical research to understand
the effectiveness of the
same. Moreover, the study also employs various statistical tests
for backing the research
hypothesis.
Attitude.
INTRODUCTION
The American Business Magnate, Bill Gates once said, “The internet
is becoming
the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” (Wikipedia)
One of the major
aspects of the internet is Social Media. Social media is an online
platform that is used by
people to build social connections, networks, and relations with a
lot of people
who share similar interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life
connections.
A space that harbours almost 60% of the world’s population, social
media has proven to
be a platform that is changing the face of public discourse in
society and setting trends
and agendas in topics that range from the environment and politics
to technology and the
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 2 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
business. As we shift towards the digital era, a radical shift has
been observed in the
general conduct of businesses. The introduction of social media has
had an indelible
impact on the operation and marketing of businesses and continues
to do the same. Social
Media Marketing has been making a mark in the business world and
every business
owner wants to capitalize on this opportunity to maximize the value
for their business. It
involves understanding the ease of making social connections and
how businesses can
profit from making those networks. More and more consumers are
using social media in
almost every aspect of their daily life whether for personal use,
business-to-consumer or
business-to-business reasons which encourage involvement thereby
increasing the
visibility of the business. Therefore, in developed countries,
social media marketing is
gaining popularity and is increasingly used especially by
start-ups, small, and medium-
sized organizations.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) appears to be beneficial for small and
medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) due to their greater flexibility and
higher need to contain
marketing communications costs. This trend opens many prospects for
new businesses as
there is no barrier of location. New businesses can promote their
products on various
blogging, micro-blogging, image sharing, or short video platforms
through interactive,
visual, and user-generated content to facilitate sales through
online mediums. The
purpose of this paper is to analyze various variables that can open
scales of opportunities
for new and upcoming businesses.
Research Methodology
The present paper is an empirical study conducted with the help of
a primary
questionnaire that was circulated online because of the pandemic.
The sample size of the
present paper is 57 responses. To employ various statistical
analysis, MS Excel had been
used by the team.
Social media marketing involves publishing engaging content on
social media
platforms, engaging with followers, analysing social media results
and prospects, and
running advertisement campaigns which, nowadays, businesses use in
innumerable ways
as there exists a spectrum of social media management tools that
help businesses to get
the most out of these platforms. Since small business owners have
limited capital, the
ability of small businesses to engage with their target audience,
harp on personalization,
and collaborate to use marketing strategies are just some of the
reasons that stand as a
testimony to the fact that social media marketing can be a great
catalyst to drive the
business of SMEs by amplifying brand awareness, loyalty, trust,
etc.
The present study limits itself to the following variables:
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is a marketing term that refers to how easily
potential customers
recognize and recall products or services. Brand awareness is a key
marketing concept
and a primary goal of brand marketing. Marketers often use brand
awareness and brand
recognition interchangeably. However, Brand awareness is important
so that buyers can
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 3 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
make the right decision and make the right choice. Consumers have
the right to
information, the right to choose, and the right to safety. Brand
awareness is critical to the
success of the business. When people are aware of the brand and its
logo and other
marketing aspects, the business will likely sell more. People are
more likely to buy from
a brand they know or click a website from a brand they are aware
of. In fact, brand
awareness and brand affinity increase click-through and conversion
rates in online
advertising by as much as three times. It takes time to build brand
awareness, but once
people know the brand well, it increases their trust, and that will
lead to increased sales
and loyalty from the customers.
Targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram account for a large majority
of brand
awareness tactics used, especially among Millennial and Gen Z
audiences. Inevitably,
consumers also share unfavourable experiences, and marketers are
adapting to that
reality. It has become crucial for a company to respond to negative
reviews and offer a
solution to the customer's problem, in real-time. But as consumers
view and interact with
social media posts and updates, brand awareness will increase. For
brand awareness to be
most productive, consumers should be able to connect to the
company's website
seamlessly from the social media platform.
Based on the above literature, it is imperative to hypothesize
that:
H1: Social media marketing significantly influences brand awareness
of the existing and
potential consumers.
Brand Loyalty
Building and maintaining brand loyalty are one of the central
themes of research for
marketers for a very long time (Oliver, 1997; Chaudhuri &
Halbrook, 2001; Bennett and
Rundle-Thiele, 2002). As brands gain exclusive, positive, and
prominent meaning in the
minds of a large number of consumers, they become irresistible and
irreplaceable and win
the loyalty of the consumers. Brand loyalty, in return, brings
sales revenues, market
share, profitability to the firms, and helps them grow or at least
maintain themselves in
the marketplace (Keller, 2008; Aaker, 1991, Kapferer, 1997). Social
media marketing is
the most important tool in building brand loyalty. The relationship
between social media
marketing and brand loyalty according to Kotler and Keller (2008)
can be conceptualized
as the final dimension of consumer brand resonance symbolizing the
customer's ultimate
relationship and level of identification with the brand. This is
evidenced by empirical
studies conducted by Erdogmus & Cicek (2012); Mehrabi et al.
(2014); Bagaturia and
Johson (2014); Khoa, (2020) that social media marketing influences
brand loyalty. As an
effective use of time and resources, social media marketing gives
companies better
communication grounds with the consumers to build brand loyalty
beyond traditional
methods (Jackson, 2011; Akhtar, 2011). Businesses can promote
products and services,
provide instant support, and/or create an online community of brand
enthusiasts through
all forms of social media such as social networking sites, content
communities, virtual
worlds, blogs, microblogging sites, online gaming sites, social
bookmarking, news sites,
forums and more (Zarella, 2010; Kaplan &Haenlein, 2009;
Weinberg, 2009). Thus, it can
be said that social media helps firms to build brand loyalty
through networking,
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 4 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
conversation, and community building (McKee, 2010) and hence leads
to business
development.
Based on the above literature it is hypothesized that -
H2: Social media marketing exerts a significant impact on brand
loyalty.
Trust
Social media provides an excellent platform for companies of all
sizes to reach out
to their target audience, establish direct contact with them, and
build trust by listening to
their opinions. "When the trust account is high, communication is
easy, instant, and
effective." --Stephen M.R. Covey. Trust is always an important
issue in online transactions
such as e-marketing, e-commerce, or other buying and selling
activities. Trust in e-
marketing is an important factor to consider and can also serve as
a platform for risk
assessment in transactions. “78% of consumers trust each other more
than they trust
advertising – which is why they read blogs and go to chat rooms
etc.” -New England
Direct Marketing Association conference, Paul Gillin, author of The
New Influencers. In
an eMarketer’s report, 77% of shoppers said that they are more
likely to buy from a
company if the CEO uses social media, and 82% of shoppers trust the
company more. It
is impressive and shows how consumers want to interact with brands
and senior
management. It gives the companies a great opportunity to provide
quality services to a
large audience when they make an effort to encourage consumers to
interact with them
through social media. Entertainment is another way brands gain and
maintain trust by
delivering value in a fun and creative way through daily content,
apps, videos,
competitions, gifts, and infographics. The possibilities are
endless. Socially responsible
brands usually become more and more important because their
customers know that it is
not just about profit, but also to donate to your community. Social
media channels are the
ideal platform to convey this information. To make online marketing
successful,
marketers and managers need to build relationships with consumers.
In addition, trust and
benevolence are the foundation of social media, and marketing in
the social media arena
must adhere to these basic ideas.
The present study is designed to assess the hypothesis -
H3: Social media marketing significantly influences brand
trust.
Consumer Attitude
Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s beliefs and
feelings about, and
behavioral intentions towards some object, a brand, or a retail
store. These elements are
considered as a unit since they are highly interrelated and
represent influences that
influence how the consumer reacts to the brand or product (Perner,
1999).
Social media has been credited as having a significant impact on
every stage of the
consumer decision-making process, as well as affecting public
opinion and attitude
formation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). When social media users
find services on social
networking sites that are both valuable and simple to use, they
shop through them (Cha,
2009). Because of the Internet and social media, the way people
react to marketing has
changed tremendously (Marken, 2007). It has a positive impact on
cognitive, affective,
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 5 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
and behavioral attitude components among young customers, but only
on a decreasing
scale, which is consistent with the purchasing funnel model
(Duffett, 2017). Duffett
(2017) found out that teenagers from the Colored and Black
population groups that
utilized social media for a long time updated their profiles often,
and they had the most
positive attitudes toward social media marketing communications.
Because social
networking sites influence the purchasing decisions of a huge
portion of Internet users,
using social media as a marketing medium has become a successful
marketing technique
(Miller & Lammas, 2010). Consumers are transformed into
marketers and advertisers on
social media, who might have a favourable or negative impact on the
company's products
and services (Roberts & Kraynak, 2008). Dwivedi, et al. (2021)
found that perceived ease
of use, adoption of social media, attitude toward social media, and
the salesperson's age
all influence social media usage. Through the use of
permission-based communications
or subscription-only content, consumer acceptance and attitudes
regarding receiving
communications from brands via social media could be significantly
improved (Bond et
al, 2010).
H4: Social Media Marketing largely affects sales generation by
impacting consumers’
attitudes towards brands.
E-WOM
Electronic word of mouth is a form of influential communication
that influences
individual customer's and organizations’ perspectives. EWOM
strongly impacts
consumers’ behavior positively or negatively, because online
reviews enhance the
awareness, attitude, and consideration of products and services.
Aggarwal et al. (2012)
revealed that negative EWOM influences more significantly on
consumers’ attitudes than
compared to positive EWOM, especially when all the reviews are
negative; however,
more positive EWOM pays more attention to purchase intention.
It is well known that EWOM affects the sales of brands (Gods and
Mayzlin, 2004;
Duan et al., 2008; Liu, 2006) and its impact is greater than that
generated by the brand
(López Pérez, 2014). As expected, EWOM has a lower cost than
traditional digital
marketing campaigns based on the production of product content and
sponsored ads,
because the content is made by the brand itself, and WOM has shown
a significant impact
on consumer decision making and greater value for post-purchase
product visibility
(Bone, 1995; Max; JG, 2001). EWOM behaviour within social network
sites may be
initiated because of the users’ desire to establish and maintain
social relationships within
their personal networks. By sharing useful product information and
experience, social
network site users can help their social connections (e.g.,
friends) with purchase-related
decisions. On the whole, social media associates EWOM with online
consumer-to-
consumer interactions about brands.
Based on the present study, the following hypothesis has been
developed:
H5: Social media marketing significantly influences EWOM and EWOM
has a significant
impact on the purchase intention of consumers.
Business Analysis 6 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Chi (2011) defines social media marketing as a “connection between
brands and
consumers, offering a personal channel and currency for
user-centered networking and
social interaction”. “While social media provides never-ending
avenues for
communicating, it is the individuals who serve as the influencers,
not the technology”
(Gonzalez 2012). An individual’s connections can potentially aid in
developing brands
into an essential part of customers’ social interactions via social
networking. When a
brand becomes integrated into a consumer’s daily life, it enables
consumers to connect,
interact, and benefit from like-minded brand users, and thus, the
likelihood of consumer-
generated advertising for a brand increases (Zinnbauer & Honer
2011).
On the basis of above-mentioned literature, it is possible to
hypothesize that -
H6: Social Media Marketing has been an effective and efficient tool
for several businesses to
convert subscribers to consumers.
Sales Generation
Business leaders use the Internet as a marketing tool for financial
success and to aid
in fostering communication with the visibility and channels of
online sales and social
media advertising becoming robust ways to reach various markets for
business expansion
(Banica, Brinzea, & Radulescu, 2015). A group of studies
investigated the effect of social
media on the level of sales and consumer purchase intention
(Ancillai et al., 2019; Itani et
al., 2017; Salo 2017; Hsiao et al., 2020; Mahrous 2013). Itani et
al. (2017) found that
attitude towards social media usefulness did not affect the use of
social media. It was also
found that social media use positively affects competitive
intelligence collection,
adaptive selling behavior, which in turn influenced sales
performance. Another study by
Ancillai et al. (2019) used in-depth interviews with social selling
professionals Gleeson
(2012). The findings suggest that the use of social media improves
not only the level of
sales but also affects the relationship and customer performance
(trust, customer
satisfaction, customer referrals); and organizational performance
(organizational selling
performance and brand performance) Figures 1 & 2.
According to Nunan et al., (2018), the impact of social media
marketing influences
customer satisfaction and is notable for identifying diverse
opportunities to increase sales
Table 1.
Based on the above literature, it is imperative to hypothesize
that:
H7: Use of Social media marketing has a significant impact on sales
generation and may
drastically increase sales of a product or service due to the
various methods used by users of social media
marketing.
Business Analysis 7 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
FIGURE 1
Respondents Percentage
Number of Employees
5 – 20 11 19.29
Structure Centralized 42 73.68
Company’s take on the dynamism Very Fast 8 14.03
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 8 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
Fast 31 54.38
Slow 18 31.57
Type of ownership
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram)
50,000 - 1,00,000 9 15.78
1,00,000 - 2,00,000 5 8.77
Reliability of Constructs
1 Brand Awareness 0.933 7
2 Brand Loyalty 0.484 3
3 Trust 0.591 3
5 E-WoM 0.453 4
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 9 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
T-TEST
H0: There is no significant contribution of social media marketing
in brand building and
brand awareness.
H1: There is a significant contribution of social media marketing
in brand building and brand
awareness.
Brand Building is the sum of Electronic word of mouth, Trust, Brand
Awareness,
Brand Loyalty, and Consumer attitude Tables 2 & 3.
Table 3
Construct
H1
Correlation
Brand
Awareness
Brand
Brand Loyalty 0.382 1 0.404 0.411 0.471 0.465
Trust 0.564 0.404 1 0.417 0.446 0.521
e-WOM 0.291 0.411 0.417 1 0.326 0.137
Consumer
Sales
Interpretation
1. Brand awareness is positively correlated with Brand loyalty
(.382), Trust (.564), E-Wom (.291),
Consumer attitude (.395), and brand awareness is highly correlated
with Sales generation (.550) than
the other variables.
2. Brand loyalty is positively correlated with Brand awareness
(.382), Trust (.404), E-Wom (.411),
consumer attitude (.471), and Sales generation (.465).
Business Studies Journal Volume 13, Special Issue 4, 2021
Business Analysis 10 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
3. Trust is positively correlated with Brand awareness (.564),
Brand loyalty (.404), E-Wom (.417),
Consumer attitude (.446), and Sales generation (.521).
4. E-Wom is positively correlated with Brand awareness (.291),
Brand loyalty (.411), Trust (.417),
Consumer attitude (.326), and Sales generation (.137).
5. Consumer attitude is positively correlated with Brand awareness
(.395), Brand loyalty (.471), Trust
(.446), E-Wom (.326), and Sales generation (.566).
6. Sales generation is positively correlated with Brand awareness
(.550), Brand loyalty (.465), Trust
(.521), E-Wom (.137), and Consumer attitude (.566) I Tables 4 &
5.
Regression Analysis
Table 5
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Brand Building (Independent Variables) Dependent Variable R R
Square Beta value
Brand Awareness
Business Analysis 11 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
FIGURE 2
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
y= Sales generation
b1,b2,b3=the coefficient value obtained from the test for the
following constructs
respectively
The regression equation for this model is
y=0.037+0.345 x 1+0.226 x 2+0.254 x 3+0.484 x 4-0.324 x 5
Thus, it can be concluded that:
1. The independent variables such as together influence the
dependent variable by 52.4%.
2. Brand Awareness positively influences Sales Generation by
34.5%.
3. Brand Loyalty positively influences Sales Generation by
22.6%.
4. Trust positively influences Sales Generation by 25.4%.
5. Consumer Attitude positively influences Sales Generation by
48.4%.
6. E-WoM negatively influences Sales Generation by 32.4%.
RESULTS
Social Media Marketing is acting as a catalyst for furthering sales
generation.
The independent variables in this research such as Brand Awareness,
Brand Loyalty,
Trust, Consumer Attitude, and E-WOM together influence the
dependent variable Sales
Generation by 52.4%. Social media marketing can boost visibility
among potential
customers, provide support for grievances and, provide features
like user-generated
content (Comments, Reviews, and Likes.
REFERENCES
Aaker, D.A. (1991), “Managing Brand Equity”, American Journal of
Industrial and Business Management,
6(11), 62
Bagaturia, G., & Johson, M. (2014), “The Impact of Social Media
in Marketing Management”, Journal of
Business, ISSN 2233-369X, 3(1), 5-13.
Dwivedi, Y., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D., Carlson, J., Fileiri, R.,
Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi,
H., Krishen A., Kumar., Vikram., M. Rahman, Mohammad., Raman,
Ramakrishnan., Rauschnabel,
Philipp., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran G., Wang, Yichuan.(2021),
“Setting the future of digital and
social media marketing research: Perspectives and research
propositions”, International Journal of
Information Management, 59, 102168.
Chi H.H., (2011) 'Interactive Digital Advertising vs. Virtual Brand
Community', Journal of Interactive
Advertising, 12,1.
Business Analysis 12 1944-6578-13-S4-174
Citation Information: Singhal, N., Chawla, A., Bansal, A.,
Sachdeva, G., Sah, I., Bajaj, M., Singh, M.P., Jain, M., Samad, N.,
Sharma, N., & Katiyar, S. (2021). Social media marketing:
prospects for new business. Business Studies Journal 13(S4),
1-12.
Gleeson, B. (2012), “6 Ways Brands Builds Trust Through Social
Media”, Forbes.com
Gonzalez, Ester S. "Internal social media's impact on socialization
and commitment." PhD diss., Baylor
University, 2012.
Keller, K.L. (2003), “Brand Synthesis the Multidim Ensionality of
Brand Knowledge”, Journal of
Consumer Research, 29, 595-600.
Kaplan, A.M. (2014),”Social Media, Definition and History. In:
Alhajj R., Rokne J. (eds)”, Encyclopedia of
Social Network Analysis and Mining. Springer, New York, NY.
Kapferer, J. (1997), “Strategic Brand Management”, American Journal
of Industrial and Business
Management, 6(2).
Kotler, P., & Keller. K.L. (2009), “Marketing Management (13th
ed.)”, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Prentice Hall.
Social media: Influencing customer satisfaction in B2B sales”
Oliver, R. (1999), “Whence Consumer Loyalty?",Journal of Marketing,
63, 33-44.
Zinnbauer, D., & Honer, T. (2011), “How Brands Can Create
Social Currency – A Framework for
Managing Brands in a Network Era”, Marketing Review St. Gallen.
28.